A few days ago I finally finished up Cyberpunk Blues 2: Your Fan Club Sucks, and threw it up on the site. You can read the whole thing HERE.
I jumped back and forth when working on this. While drawing it, there'd be one minute where I loved it and another where I hated it. I tried putting some Paul Pope influences into it, as well as Kirby and Gabriel Ba, who were the big influences in the first comic. I also came to a realization that there's a bit more Jaime Hernandez to it though, which isn't a bad thing at all.
The original script was 12 pages, the Little Shockers had FIVE members, and there was just a lot of fat that had to be trimmed off to make it work. It still feels a bit urgent, but that's okay.
The idea came about pretty easily. I've been reading a lot about absurd and obsessive fanbases doing crazy shit, nothing new there, but I started thinking about like, a hit squad. Like, what if, say, someone did something that scandalized um, Nicki Minaj? She's pretty dang popular right now, right? Anyways, what if that happened, someone practically ruins her reputation, say, uh, the guy from some lousy band, I dunno, and so her fans go after him?
Casey came about...well, I once saw this video of a topless Japanese girl with a surgical mask and tape over her nipples dancing BADLY to some anime theme song or something. Oh, wait, here it is. Yeah, no, I don't know why it fascinated me so much, aside from being stupidly absurd and well, going back to the theme of crazy things devoted fans will do...
...Man, that's the first time I've seen that video in months. Her dancing is just...so bad...
ANYWAYS.
I'm a bit sad that Gail only shows up in two panels this go around, but in keeping with the themes of the first CB story, I had to go reference the leaked nude cellphone pics of Scarlett Johannson. HAD TO.
When I think about it, Cyberpunk Blues isn't very cyberpunk in the traditional sense, is it? Nor is it bluesy. It's more about celebrity musicians screwing with each other. I mean, nude photos and sex tapes are leaked all the time, but I'm a little surprised no one's used it to their advantage in the way Vince did with the first comic. It's bound to happen eventually, right? And when it does, I can be there to obnoxiously shout "I CALLED IT" at everyone.
Well, okay there is that one Rammstein video, but I don't think it counts...
Coloring this was a tough deal, taking three or four separate attempts, but I think I finally got it where I wanted it, and I hope you enjoy it.
Next up? Working on the previously mentioned collection of East Tennessean strips, 90+ pages thumbnailed for the big graphic novel project, and I've got a few more pages to fill for Burst Reach 2. I've got my ideas, it's just a matter now of hammering it into gold, yeah?
That's all. Keep being awesome, kids.
[Brett]